Court tosses out homeless shelter rules

Adults would have been required to prove they had no other options

Published 9:06 pm, Tuesday, November 26, 2013

New York state's highest appeals court struck down on Tuesday a city plan to impose strict new requirements on people trying to enter homeless shelters.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration aimed to require that homeless adults prove they had no other housing options in order to gain admittance to a city-run shelter.

The Court of Appeals ruled against that policy, affirming a lower court's decision on a lawsuit brought by the city council and its speaker, Christine Quinn.

The shelter population has surged under Bloomberg's tenure to more than 50,000.

Advocates for the homeless praised the ruling.

"When Mayor Bloomberg proposed new rules to deny shelter to our most frail neighbors, we knew that it would undoubtedly result in many more homeless people sleeping on our streets," said a spokesman for the Coalition for the Homeless, "and we are so very grateful New York's highest court effectively stopped the mayor in his tracks."

Advocates say the current policy strands homeless families and would have been even harsher on single adults because they are more likely to have substance abuse or mental health problems that could make it more difficult to prove their housing status.

The Bloomberg administration criticized the appeals court's ruling.

"Shelter should be a last resort, when all other resources have been exhausted," said Thomas Crane, chief of the city's Law Department's general litigation division. "We are disappointed with the court's decision today."